The custody of Nuevo León was based in Monterrey and depended on the Province of Zacatecas. The Franciscans took advantage of this settlement to penetrate Neolonese territory and in 1604 the first mission was founded under the name of San Andrés.
The custody of Nuevo León was based in Monterrey and depended on the Province of Zacatecas. The Franciscans took advantage of this settlement to penetrate New Leonese territory and in 1604 the first mission was founded under the name of San Andrés.
In the second half of the seventeenth century, only four missions remained, while by the year 1777 almost all of them were suppressed and a bishopric was created with headquarters in San Felipe Linares.
The first three convents that were founded in Nuevo León were to serve as penetration establishments: San José de Río Blanco (Zaragoza), Valle del Peñón (Montemorelos) and Cerralvo. The rest of the buildings had to form a liaison mission to prepare the occupation ones —San José de Cadereyta whose primitive foundation dates from 1616 and its consolidation was in 1660—, Santa María de los Angeles del Río Blanco (Aramberri), San Cristóbal Hualahuises , Alamillo, San Nicolás de Agualeguas and San Pablo de Labradores (Galeana).
One of the missions that is still preserved to this day is that of Santa María de los Dolores de la Punta de Lampazos. It is located in the municipality of Lampazos de Naranjo, in the Plaza de la Corregidora, and its construction was due to Fray Diego de Salazar, who in 1720 was buried in that same place. On December 15, 1895, the building was converted into the School of Girls of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and lasted as such until 1913. Years later it was occupied by federal forces under the command of General Manuel Gómez and from 1942 it was abandoned, suffering the consequent deterioration.
The temple has a basilica plan and contains lateral arches that surround the central nave. The atrium was used as a pantheon and minimal remains of paint on the frieze are still preserved on its interior walls.
Another 12 Franciscan convents were built in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1782 it was intended to canonically erect this Custody, uniting it with that of Parral, but it could not be done. A good part of these missions continued to provide their services until the middle of the 19th century; But from 1860, the year of the civil secularization of the religious orders, they practically gradually became parishes or affiliated towns of those, under the care of the diocesan clergy.
